tenchifandomcom-20200214-history
Katsuhito Masaki
Katsuhito Masaki (柾木　勝仁, Masaki Katsuhito) is the grandfather of main protagonist Tenchi Masaki in the Tenchi Muyo! metaseries. In most of the continuities, Katsuhito's original name is 'Yosho '(柾木 遙照 樹雷, Masaki Yōshō Jurai), and he is the crown prince of the planet Jurai. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (OVA) In the official continuity, Yosho was born to Juraian Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai and the first of his two wives, Funaho. Therefore, Prince Yosho is the first in line for the throne. Yōshō had a marriage arranged with his half-sister Ayeka, but at the time, not all Juraians liked the idea of mixed blood heritages as he is part Earthling on his mother's side. So, when Yosho took on the space pirate Ryoko during her massive attack on Jurai, he used it as a perfect excuse to slip away. Yosho used his Master Key called "Sword Tenchi" to do battle with Ryoko and lured her to Earth. There, he subdued her, took away her power source (her three gems), and sealed her away in what would become the Masaki Shrine. 700 years later where the story picks up, Yosho has taken on the Earth name of Katsuhito Masaki and is a Shinto priest who guards the Masaki Shrine. While on Earth, Katsuhito married a woman named Kasumi, who is also his mother Funaho's niece, and bore two children (whose statuses are currently unknown). His descendants along that line include Nobuyuki Masaki (Tenchi's father), Kiriko Masaki, and her young brother Kai. After that marriage was over, Katsuhito fell in love with Airi Masaki and married her in a common law marriage. Together, they became the parents of two children Minaho Masaki, and Kiyone Masaki, Tenchi's mother. In the beginning of the series, Katushito is not only training Tenchi to be a Shinto priest but also training him in a style of swordsmanship which, unbeknownst to Tenchi, belongs to the planet Jurai. Katsuhito had expected that Ayeka would try to track him down and arranged for Tenchi to find Ryoko in the Masaki Shrine, release and do battle with her so that his grandson would go in his place to Jurai. Although he had dropped contact with his parents, he was still in touch with Juraian politicial figure, Seto Kamiki Jurai through whom he was able to send his granddaughter Tennyo, and Kiriko, among others, into space via the Galaxy Academy although her collusion in his plans is not known. While he appears to be of advanced age, his gray hair and lined face are merely an illusion hiding his true form, which he shows to only a select few (such as his mother). Fans incorrectly assumed that Yosho could generate one Light Hawk Wing during the battle with Kagato and the possessed Ryoko in OVA 1 Episode 5 but series creator Masaki Kajishima confirmed that it was not a Light Hawk Wing but in fact a simple shield generated by his connection to his Royal Tree, Funaho. Yōshō named his tree after his mother. It is a rare first-generation tree spawned directly from Tsunami-no-fume and thus one of the most powerful Juraian tree ships. It is currently rooted on Earth and so at present cannot take ship form. However, the tree has not lost its power. This was because during his battle with Ryoko, Yōshō stole the three gems originally forged by Washu to hold her godly power, owned by Ryoko, and embedded them to the pommel of sword Tenchi, the Master Key. As a result, the gems supplied power to the tree for over 700 years, sustaining his youth although he will live a shorter life than he would on Jurai, being supplied with youth by its trees and waters. The excuse that Yosho uses for leaving Jurai and his engagement to Ayeka is a false one. The real reason, his love for Airi, wouldn't have been the best reason to give at the moment as Airi's people despised Jurai. Even his old love for his father's second wife, Ayeka's mother Misaki, wouldn't have been a suitable excuse. His tertiary reason, the fact the he loved Ayeka only as a sister, would only have been reason enough to not marry Ayeka. It would not have justified his running away. The fact that if he had not married Ayeka, and Jurai would have had to choose between the two as heads of the throne, is a major factor in why Yosho left. ''Tenchi Universe'' In the Tenchi Universe continuity, Katsuhito is once again revealed to be Yōshō and is apart of Jurai's Royal Family along with being the greatest swordsman who has ever lived, but is not a close relative to Princesses Ayeka or Sasami. While Ayeka and Sasami are from a distant branch of the imperial family, Yōshō and Tenchi are from the main line. This makes Tenchi the direct heir to the throne of Jurai. In the movie Tenchi Forever! (Tenchi in Love 2), it was revealed that, after he defeated Kagato for the first time, he left Jurai along with his lover, Haruna. They left the planet because Haruna was from a lower class than Yosho, and they fled so they could wed. Tragically, she died before arriving to Earth. Yosho then met with the Masakis, who guarded the shrine which coincidentally housed the great scientist, Washu, and trained in order to take over the shrine as a Shinto priest. He took the name Katsuhito Masaki, and fell inlove with a woman named Itsuki, who would bare his daughter Achika Masaki, the mother of Tenchi. Unlike the OVA continuity where Katsuhito had retained his youthful appearance throughout his seven centuries on Earth and simply chooses to appear as an elderly man, Yōshō of the Tenchi Universe continuity truly is as elderly as he appears, but he has not been on Earth for 700 years, and is not semi-immortal. ''Tenchi in Tokyo'' In Tenchi in Tokyo, Katsuhito is not part of any line to Jurai's Royal Family. He is just the wise guardian of the Masaki Shrine. He also doesn't display any kind of special powers in the series, beside his skills as an exorcist. His personality is also less calm and collected then is previous versions. Near the finale, when Washu needed to go to Tenchi to warn him about Yugi, Katsuhito went with her. It is there that Katsuhito revealed to Tenchi that the Masaki family are Earth's protectors that secretly battle against any enemy that is a threat to the Earth and the gems that Tenchi received from his late mother are in fact the power that had been granted to them by the gods of the Earth and repel all evil. Later, after Yugi began to freeze time and after Tenchi went to fight her, Katsuhito explained to Washu that Tenchi won't kill Yugi as he had preferred to be a kindhearted person which is why Washu and the other women from space are allowed to live on Earth in the Masaki Shrine. Katsuhito explained that through this method it enables for Tenchi to be true to himself and be able to fulfill his Planet Guardian duties. This proved to be true when Tenchi chose to spare Yugi. ''Pretty Sammy'' In Magical Project S (Pretty Sammy TV), Katsuhito and Yōshō appear as Genjūrō Hagakure (葉隠 源十郎, Hagakure Genjūrō?) and Binpachi Hagakure (葉隠 敏八, Hagakure Binpachi?), respectively, in episode 10. Genjūrō Hagakure is the leader of the ninja village theme park and is working to prevent Nobuyuki Onijigoku from turning it to a wild west theme park but had become bedridden. Binpachi is Genjūrō's foolish grandson who had chosen to go over Onijigoku's side as he felt that cowboys were cooler than ninja. At the end, Binpachi chose to go back to his family's side after his grandfather protected him from getting shot by Gunman Girl, and Binpachi responded by distracting Gunman Girl with his Ninja skills until Pretty Sammy destroyed her. Genjūrō then was able to convince a depressed Onijigoku that they could convert the theme park into a mixture of the wild west and ninjas. But to help teach Onijigoku a lesson for what he had tried to do, Genjūrō had him and his assistant bound to the entrance of the wild west park as punishment. Category:Characters Category:Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Category:Tenchi Universe Category:Tenchi In Tokyo